Editorial Reviews - Second Collection

Second Collection

By Joseph Dawson

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 Joseph Dawson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-7180-0

Contents

A bouquet of love:............................................1A lover's dialogue............................................2A lover's torment.............................................3A Play of Love................................................4A self reproach:..............................................5A test of love................................................6A tribute to my wife:.........................................7Adjudication..................................................9An indication!!...............................................10Another Mothers day tribute:..................................11As She Is.....................................................12At My Leisure!!...............................................13Because They Dared!!..........................................14Because you called:...........................................15Beyond these pictures:........................................16By Her Picture I Remember Her.................................17Bygone to youth...............................................18Death Relieve Me Now..........................................19Distraction...................................................20Do let me!....................................................21Emulation (My Identity Lost)..................................22Farewell my friends, Farewell!!...............................23Forever On My Mind............................................24Goodbye.......................................................25Having found you!.............................................26Here We Will Be (together forever)............................27I fell in love with your picture..............................28love your laughter!!..........................................29Imagination's run:............................................30In consolation {to a friend}..................................31In My Despair.................................................32He has been my hope for years.................................33In my loneliness..............................................34It's just impossible!!........................................35It's oft what seem and not what is:...........................36Just can't wait!..............................................37LET FREEDOM LIVE!!............................................38Let Me Be Alone...............................................39Looking Back..................................................40Loosing my self control.......................................41Love..........................................................42Love Early Begun..............................................43May my every dream:...........................................44Message from the grave: (from my wife)........................45My birthday...................................................46My Constant Friend............................................47My departed love:.............................................48My doubtful self..............................................49My Fair Lady..................................................50My frivolity:.................................................51My Gift of Love (a book of poems).............................52My love and wife:.............................................53My PRAYER.....................................................54My song.......................................................55My sweet bubbly you!!.........................................56No Christmas without Her!!....................................57No Fear of Death..............................................58No life -there is............................................59Nobody knows my pain..........................................60Oh where, Oh why..............................................61Old and desperate.............................................62On a woman's breast!!.........................................63On a woman's Buns.............................................64On help from a friend.........................................65On Her Nails..................................................66On my Secret Love:............................................67(On my Visit to Jamaica)......................................68(On their Anniversary.).......................................70OUR CHANCE MEETING!...........................................71Our love beyond the years of youth!...........................72Painful Memories..............................................73Promised love!................................................74Ripples of truth!!............................................75Searching for Winona..........................................81She Got The Better Of me......................................82She is a garland to be worn:..................................83Song of love!.................................................84Still remembering my wife:....................................85Tell me not...................................................86The remnant of love...........................................87They say......................................................88Things They Say...............................................89Though we haven't met.........................................90To a friend called Mitch (Happy Birthday).....................91To be in love.................................................92To My Ailing Wife on Mothers' Day.............................93Until then!...................................................94Welcome Home..................................................95What I want with you?.........................................96What must I do?...............................................97When I am gone:...............................................98Where is everything of you?...................................99Why drift away?...............................................100Will I........................................................101Will you?.....................................................102Winona Was....................................................103With our deepest sympathy: (to a friend)......................104Wondering who you are.........................................105You calmed me.................................................106

Chapter One

            A bouquet of love:

    May this bouquet speaks loudly of my love
    A garland to adorn the heart of my dove,
    The red roses are barely the color of your lips
    And your beauty stem beyond the folded tulips.

    From a body and spirit up and doing
    With a heart agog with love still pouring,
    I wonder if my love for you is unrequited
    For the thought of you make me excited.

    To this gift the added dazzle thereon
    Display the love within my heart,
    And when these petals are faded and gone
    My love will remain as from the start.

    You are the one I love; my bounty for sure
    And having you I'd never ask for more.


            A lover's dialogue

    She
    "Oh dear sweet love, honey of mine
    I seek no more than my love returned,
    Venture forth and with my heart align
    Let me know my love has not been spurned".

    He
    "I know my love but grief enfolds me still
    And for a period perhaps too long my dear,
    Love now; unrequited; goes against my will
    But in time this pallor of mine will disappear".

    She
    "I have bared my bosom at will to you
    To rest and find some comfort there,
    Tried to soothe with hugs and kisses too
    To purge you clear of wounds you bear.

    He
    "Bare on with me sweetheart as old wounds let
    And the tainted flow alloyed with grief runs dry,
    There'll still be time for us to find pleasure yet
    And in that time I'll wipe away the tears you cry.


            A lover's torment

    I'm haunted both night and day
    By memories of my wife long gone,
    Death had shortened her tenured stay
    And I am left alone to brood upon.

    The near collapse of my gilded world
    Appear when memories are unfurled
    And her unseen presence closely felt
    As I try to reshuffle the hand already dealt.

    How can I offer love although beloved?
    Be a lover when memories keep me chained
    To a memory of love once deeply involved,
    And a feeling, though lost, is still retained?

    The maiden loving me doth wish love for love's sake
    And in requite I must or lose her in my troubled wake.


            A Play of Love.

    When the heated chores of day are done
    In haste I'll turn to you to turn me on
    And cool my fevered cheeks with a kiss
    Then nothing thence will be amiss.

    You'd deplete the fears that plague my days
    With a smile that shine in gleaming rays,
    Then let me wrap my arms around you
    As you pucker up to engage me too.

    I'd run the curves of your youthful soma
    While inhaling the scent of your sweet aroma,
    Thrust my hand on the pillows of your chest
    And leave them there for a moment to rest.

    I swear you love and know that you do
    For in your eyes I see a love entire and true.


           A self reproach:

    Awake my friend and fill the cup of life
            Or in your grief empty it outright,
    Linger not for your departed wife
            Whom death has ta'en in sweeping flight
    To end the shared moments of fun and delight
            You both enjoyed while claiming the right.
    Rise up from your slumber and induced pity,
            Front the world with smiles and a vibrant heart,
    Bleed your sorrow in poetry of lines gleefully witty,
            Enable yourself with energy you alone must chart
    And be ready each day with vigor from the start.

    Gather yourself with friends both old and new,
            Turn to books and read of times and events
    Of men of arts, science and crafts and politics too
            And the changes evoked by their stubborn dissents.
    Find love and move to the beat of rhythm and sound
            Then sway in amorous contact with someone in a waltz,
    Dance in splendor and sprite with the one you've found
            If at all she answers to your beckon and calls,
    Then with subtle art lift yourself in girth and measure
            And give her reason to remember the pleasure.

    Fill each moment you live with a fruitful score
            Not wishing to forget but to diminish your grief,
    Spend time with the family and remain their core
            For your presence around will give them relief.
    Sing a tune now and then as you strum your guitar
            And serenade the woman your chosen star,
    Then join hands together and ask her to share
            New ventures found and together will dare.

    Death will come and to death we are bound
            But live on ere you pass to make your mound.


            A test of love

    Write my name on the board you chalk upon,
    Walk the corridors at school as you hurry on
    Or give me a plus on the paper you score
    As I await the verdict by the classroom door.

    While riding the bus look to see me at the stop
    And then watch me as I cross in a single hop,
    Call me on a whim at midnight or another time
    Then sing me songs of love even without rhyme.

    Float me kisses in your dreams of love
    Then with your eyes; replace two stars above,
    Tell me stories of life as you'd want it to be
    Or if by chance you'd share it with me.

    This is but a test I'll have put you through
    In my quest to know if you love me too.


            A tribute to my wife:

    Had it been what we got from life
    Is what we do fittingly deserved
    Then assuredly my beloved wife
    Only the best for you would be served,
    Hence there must be some hidden reason
    That explains the agony you went through
    And enfold me as I watch you in your season
    Of agony and know there was nothing I could do.

    Now I must perforce continue life without you
    But your essence will lead me through,
    And so my erstwhile love and arm of life
    My sweet and irreplaceable wife,
    I thank you for the times we had together
    Braving hard times while we had each other,
    Thank you for bearing my faults and still be true
    E'en though at times I made you a trifle blue,
    Thank you for bearing our wonderful sons
    My old age guards and protective guns,
    Thank you for the run of fun and laughter
    Memories of which I'll recall hereafter,
    Thank you for continuance whatever I did
    And for keeping our vows despite my skid
    Thank you for being the person you were
    To prod me awake when I wouldn't stir:

    Thank you for your dash and dare whenever needed
    When events had threatened the ones we seeded,
    Thank you for moments 'tween sheets in bed
    A pleasure we shared and was never misled.

    The memory of our love with me abide
    And your wisdom, your legacy, will be my guide.


          Adjudication

    Judge me not because of what I seem to be
    Or because I fail to mirror the doctrine you believe,
    Judge me not for my slothful purpose to agree
    Instead do note my absence to deceive.
    But if you must so do then fairly score
    Me with standard held to some moral gram
    Of weight no less than you would yourself adjure
    And I'd be pleased you've seen me as I am.


            An indication!!

    You took away for swift repair
    The piece that did adorn my wrist
    And left me feeling a little bare
    As I glance align my folded fist.

    You took from me the golden piece
    That logs the flow and time of day,
    You fixed it quickly less it should cease
    And never tick or run its way.

    Along with that you took away the imp
    That seemed to plague me for awhile,
    My brow was locked a furrowed crimp
    But now you've worked me in a smile.

    By will and purpose to attend my watch
    I've come to learn I'm more to you
    Than my skimpy wrist enfolding catch
    That tells the time in movements true.

    And now on seeing you I am aware
    By the look upon your winsome face
    Your tender touch and often sexy flair
    That I'm the man to fill your space.


            Another Mothers day tribute:

    It may be said that as we live
    We chance every passing blow
    That assails man's sojourn on earth,
    Thus I am quite happy to know
    That you are still with me giving worth
    To my own racked out existence
    That you held with love and persistence.

    And so as Mother's day approach us
    In the wake of your checkered health,
    I'm beside myself with joy as I fuss
    And hope you remain my fount of wealth.

    Despite your pain you sport me a smile
    Disabling aught our love could defile,
    And I thank you for loving me this while.


            As She Is

    Plain and fairly beautiful she is
    With a nibble space between our age,
    No claim she is a high school wiz
    Or boast a figure for a posted page,
    But she loves me despite my woes
    And boast of me wherever she goes.
    She loves me, she loves me; I know
    With caring that keeps me aglow.

    My solitude imposed she has cleared
    And engendered me with a will to live,
    Promised to follow my ventures dared
    And be sated with whatever I give.

    In her eyes I see my reflection with surprise
    And in her arms a warmth that never dies.


            At My Leisure!!

    One two three
    At last I'm free
    To do whatever I may please
    And with time-filled ease,
    To no one else I answer now
    Or ask what task they will allow.

    No clock to chime me awake
    Or by its clamor my earlobe quake
    Whence I promptly move to end the shake,
    Now I read or do my fishing by the lake
    And eat whate'er I cook, mix or bake.

    I'll sail alone in my paddled craft
    Or jump aboard to join another's raft,
    And dance with revelers in song and laugh,
    Make a canopy with me and mine the only staff
    And laze with arms about my other half.

    I'll watch the girls as they pass me by
    View their frontal pair with opened eye,
    Then swivel to see what's carried behind
    And share comments with mates in kind.


            Because They Dared!!

    Unmindful of the dangers that lay ahead
    Of the storm of words and opinions held;
    Not seeking glory but life for all instead
    They fought on; stumbled and felled,
    Still on they went and boldly dared
    To have us live as their efforts prepared.

    These men and women of color and cast
    Are known from pages reflecting the past,
    Often beaten and pinioned to the mast
    They tread on little knowing how vast
    A task they undertook to have us spared
    The continuity of a period wrongly declared.

    They battled to embrace what's native to man
    Like freedom to choose without imposing ban,
    Opinions and beliefs each man's effort to scan
    Bar enforcement by office or others who can.
    They struggled to remove fixed restraints of custom
    That functions only as barriers to opted freedom.

    Now we are beneficiaries of the efforts spent
    By those who dared to forge and wage dissent.


            Because you called:

    I worried and wondered where you were
            And wished our tritely fuss did not occur,
    We parted and left each other feeling blue
            And now alone I'm lost without you.

    I fear our bond may now be broken
            And our promised vow just idly spoken,
    But then the doubt that I'd installed
            No longer dwells--because you called.

    I fought to keep my heart in place
            As I wondered who will fill my space,
    I cried a tear that spoke my grief
            With little thought I'd find relief.
    But then the doubt that I'd installed
            No longer dwells--because you called.


            Beyond these pictures:

    It's quite true the expression on one's face
    Tells nothing of their inner self or soul,
    The given looks we receive by divining grace
    Is but a feature that is our earthly dole,
    Thus I ask you look not on my unflavored pan
    But in your eyes stay judgment on this lowly man.

    My age is clearly not abreast with yours
    Nor do I lump a figure to burden you;
    No prank of style or known emotive burs
    I know to be a wedge 'tween me and you.

    So now my dear: sweetheart of mine
    From what I've seen you're the one ensign,
    And may the yearn you claim to have for me
    Survive beyond the pictures that you'll see.


            By Her Picture I Remember Her

    Daily I look with fixity at her picture and trace
    The unscheduled moments of treats we had
    When my world was found in her embrace
    And ogling over her was then my only fad.
    Now unchecked; tears streak my aging cheeks
    As I grimace and wail aloud to disperse my grief,
    The pictured moments of my straying mind leaks
    And the bitter sweet memories brings me relief,
    A pair of fluid-filled eyes looks up at her picture
    Showing cheeks with a smile on an ageless face,
    The red lips seem to move and tell me in a whisper
    "I await your arrival at this nameless place".

    As long as I live I'll never forget or want to forget her,
    And in my mind; there'll be a mosaic of the way we were.


           Bygone to youth

    The early years was with us for a while
    Timely come and now timely gone,
    And all our tears and portly smile
    Our hopes and dreams have passed on
    Like waves in reclamation of sands
    Swept ashore earlier by their watery hands.
    The years bygone were full of tales
    Of bitter woes and pleasant times,
    Mixed periods of fun and lazy days
    Lengthy struggles and uphill climbs
    That helped in the shaping of our lives
    While we watched friends and foes survives.

    Now youth has passed; is no more with us,
    The period of wild and unvalued freedom
    Endless gusto and strength we had in surplus
    Wasted in ways now in hindsight seem dumb,
    As we look o'er the slate of our flirted past
    We can give counsel to those living too fast.

    The elapsed space between youth and age
    Has forged our summers into the winter of life,
    Perhaps the recall of memories gone help to assuage
    The attendant ills as we meander through pain and strife,
    And in quiet; surrender to the disabling of body and use
    As we struggle with gait and posture and frequent abuse.

    It seem with skill and art man's effort
    To defeat old age might come to past
    And future progenies will find comfort
    But bore themselves for the eons they'll last.


            Death Relieve Me Now

    Death you hated fiend and soul snatching hound
    Bringing finale to those whose tenure should be more,
    You cloaked monster that roam wherever life is found
    Thus making curtained check to mankind wanted score,
    Come visit me now in my hour of pain and sorrow
    And in haste ere I change my mind upon the morrow.
    Peers may think me weak and so escorting shame
    For courting death while seem vibrant and full of life,
    They know my loss is that of my beloved dame
    But I must go and free myself of further strife,
    So I beseech you death come clear me of debt and woe
    And in eerie silence transport me to the place you know.

    My laughter hide my grief, my deportment my pain
    But in attendance death will end misfortune's reign.


          Distraction

    It rides adjacent to every thought
    And dwells with us as we go,
    An intrusion not wanted or sought
    It slips at random before we know.

    While intent to have our purpose done
    Enter in with stealth this little imp
    To foil our aim while busy on the run
    Then; being unaware, he inserts a crimp
    To place a hold and make us pay a price
    For having veered or heeding bad advice.

    To avoid distraction and needless self reproach
    We must be focused or distraction will approach.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Second Collectionby Joseph Dawson Copyright © 2011 by Joseph Dawson. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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